


Scarlet Spider

by Zi_Xi_Zy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Michelle Jones, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Michelle Jones-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Michelle Jones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-01-13 06:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21239831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zi_Xi_Zy/pseuds/Zi_Xi_Zy
Summary: 16 year old Michelle Jones raised by her single mother after divorcing her father when she was 12 years old. All of her life she’s always observed her surroundings instead of being apart of what’s going on. Recently she’s been interning at Stark Industries under CEO Pepper Potts, and protecting the Queens borough. (Occasionally all of NYC) inspired by the post of MJ as Spinneret (@starybos) and about 5 fanfics I’ve read that are MJ-Centric.





	1. Call Me MJ

**Author's Note:**

> I'm diving into the Marvel fandom now. I see MJ as a good character to write about, and I could only find less than 20 fanfics that solely focus on her.

“Michelle S.C. Jones! It’s the first day of school! Wake up, I ain’t taking you to school if you’re late.” 

16 year old Michelle Shirley Chisolm Jones took off her headphones playing soft R&B music, setting down her observation notebook, she looked around her room; the monochromatic walls; three of which are a dark grey and one having neon purple with splashes of orange, yellow, and blue. Among the walls are decorations of posters of female activists, a mood board full of sarcastic sayings, assignments for the next 3 weeks that need to be done, her MacBook Air proudly displaying the time behind her wallpaper of the quote "fight like a girl".

She walked out of her room and down the stairs to be greeted by her mother Ida Bell-Jones rushing her 18 year old sister River and 12 year old brother Wright, around the kitchen island to get their lunch and money for after school activities. 

Ida Bell-Jones, R&D manager for Stark Industries under Pepper Potts has been divorced from her husband for almost 4 years. She makes $142,120 every year, has 3 degrees from 2 HBCUs and encourages her children to have a good and rewarding education so they’ll be prepared for life after college.

River Marian Jones, 18 years old and attends NYU majoring in Political Science and Government, she prefers to live off campus to avoid additional cost of tuition, and likes to stay near in case anything happens to her family.

Wright Evans Jones, 12 twelve years old, attends Midtown Middle School of Science and Technology and wants to become a software developer. He likes robotics, programming and baking.

“MJ there you are. I’ve been calling you for the last twenty minutes. Now do you want to ride home with me from SI or are you staying the night there to finish some work with Pepper?”

For the last two years, Michelle has been interning at Stark Industries under Pepper Potts to take over the company after Michelle finishes college. She got an internship after Pepper started a search for teens in the area to get some work experience, and boost SI’s public image. She was chosen because of her 5.0 GPA, participation in Academic-Decathlon and her 1480 PSAT score. What solidified her spot with Pepper was when her mother Ida mentioned she had a daughter that was being considered for a spot at Stark Industries. When Pepper asked about her daughter, Ida dived into praising MJ for her intelligence and accomplishments, and the next thing she knew, Pepper was asking if Michelle would be able to work under her as a protege.

“I’ll be staying at the Tower, and before you ask yes I have money, yes I’ll be careful and no I won’t use it as a chance to miss school. I have to go now. Love you Mom, bye River, Wright.” Michelle gave her mom a hug and kiss, waved bye to her brother and sister, made sure she had her Student MetroCard to take the city bus to school and headed on her way. 

When she gets there she heads straight to her first period class, not stopping at any teachers, or acquaintances (she knows they’re all idiots why try and dumb things down for them). When she gets to her seat she plugs her earbuds in to her Iphone 8 plus (Pepper gave her a Stark Phone but she only uses it when she’s at SI), and starts writing in her information notebook. 

The bell rings and Mrs. Ajaria walks into the classroom and the other twelve AP students quiet down and turn to face her. MJ notices the teacher walk in and puts her notebook away but doesn’t turn off her music, only turning it to a lower volume.

“Good morning class! Welcome to the 11th grade and AP United States Government. I’m your teacher Mrs Ajaria. And I have some assigned seats for you based on your test performance and feedback from previous teachers. I want everyone to get up from where you’re sitting, grab your stuff and stand along the walls. When you hear your name I’ll point you towards your seat for the semester.”

After hearing the news, students groan, mumbling lowly to themselves their opinions about the teacher but follow what she says nonetheless. 

For the first 5 minutes of the class Mrs Ajaria assigns students their seats, answer questions about why they’re sitting where they are, silently clapping back on students that are dissatisfied with their seat. 

“And lastly Michelle Jones and Peter Parker. You two will be seated in the back row, right next to the window.”

Upon hearing her name and the direction of her seat she goes and sits down. The person that sits next to her - Peter Parker - is wearing a sky blue sweater with two pieces of coal and a diamond that says “your father’s been under a lot of pressure recently” on it, on top of a white collared shirt. He wears khaki pants and Converse sneakers. His hair is styled in a low fade with what seems like natural light brown highlights in his chocolate brown hair. 

Michelle on the other hand is wearing a dark green bomber jacket, a black t-shirt that says “sarcasm intended”, black jeans and black ankle boots. 

With only a brief glance at Peter Michelle can tell he’s intelligent, socially awkard, and huge science nerd. She also notes that he’s about 2 inches shorter than her if she were wearing sneakers, but since she’s wearing boots with a small heel, the height difference is larger (she’s 5’10 gets the height from her mom being 5’11 and her dad being 6’2). Distantly she thinks that he’s cute but she won’t pay much attention to that thought, before she sees just how smart he is. 

Peter turns to her, smiles a dimple on each cheek, abit of red on his cheeks and says, “u-um h-hello, Michelle, my names Parker Peter, I- I mean Peker Pater, I-I mean you heard my name from Mrs Ajaria.” With that he becomes increasingly red and ducks his head into the fold of his arms. 

Michelle smirks at how flustered he is and saves him the trouble. She extends her hand. 

“‘Sup Parker, and call me MJ, you’ve earned the sentiment with your previous statement.”


	2. Call Me Scarlet Spider Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MJ’s Spider-Origins, trip class trip, got bitten by a radioactive spider the day of intense pain continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What happens in this chapter takes place 2 months later.

As Michelle walks through the halls of Midtown High School she can already tell it’s going to be a bad day.

The past two months have been calm. Wake up, greet the fam, take the bus or subway to school, get bored and correct teachers and students alike (the occasional run in with Mr Morita), go to SI, and either go home, write, eat and sleep, or stay the night at Stark Industries and repeat cycle.

Also during the last couple of months she has gotten to know Peter Parker and by association, Ned Leeds. Michelle and Peter (Ned too) had a lot of their core classes together. She came to know that they made a good team; Michelle’s straight forward attitude questioned the teachers methods along with what their learning, Peter’s extensive intellect correcting teachers in a humble manner and Ned’s knowledge of putting things in ways people won’t feel offended when the previous two seemed out of place or rude. The trio was able to tag team and impress many of their peers and teachers.

When she walked into Ms Warren’s AP Physics class she knew something was going to happen.Taking her seat in the back row, last seat, she pulled out her class notebook and observation notebook. The former so she could look like she’s paying attention, the latter so she could do what she wants.

A minute after the bell rang the chemistry teacher Mr Cobbwell walked in and Ms Warren called for the class’ attention.

“Good morning everybody. Although this is physics class, the science department has some exciting news that should interest all of you. Mr Cobbwell will you please deliver the news?”

Michelle stopped for a brief moment taking in ms Warren's small smile along with Mr Cobbwell’s excited grin and the slight bounce he had shifted his feet every so often. She guessed it was a field trip to one of the major companies in the city.

It was that moment that Peter and Ned crashed into the class, out of breath, slightly perspiring and spouting out excuses and apologies. They took their seats in the same row as Michelle, smiling slightly and turned to the teachers trying (and failing) to calm their fast breaths and speeding heartbeats.

Despite the disturbance the chemistry teacher continued, “okay everybody! Midtown high has been able to get two of the world’s leading science and technology companies to give us a tour of their facilities. That’s right everyone we’re going to Stark and Oscorp Industries! We’re going to Oscorp in two days and Stark Industries next week. Ms Warren and I will pass out the permission slips right now, hand them in tomorrow and per the courtesy of the companies these trips will be absolutely free of charge.” After the class and throughout the day, all Peter and Ned could talk about were the trips to Oscorp and SI. The only thing that was going on in Michelle’s head was whether or not Pepper had agreed to this trip knowing that Michelle and her close associates (friends) attend the school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days and a small confrontation with Pepper later, Michelle, Peter and Ned were getting off the bus and heading into Oscorp Industries. After a quick introduction of what Oscorp is about, they were separated into small groups to tour one of the rooms among the fifth floor.

Peter was completely absorbed in all of Oscorp’s biochemistry exhibits, Ned was immersed in their technology division and Michelle was thinking of things to protest while walking around their different presentations.

She’s made a small list of things she’ll both post on her socials calling out Oscorp in front of black twitter, and what’s she’s going to protest both in New York and in DC when she goes with her mom for an SI conference.

The list includes:

\- Unequal pay between men, women and POC (not to mention LGBTQIA+)

\- Ignoring New York’s CROWN Act

\- Little to no recycling bins mostly just trash cans

\- Numerous rumors among the staff from who stole someone’s donut, who wore a wig, to who’s having an affair with whom

\- She managed to get into some of Oscorp’s database and files and uncovered some questionable past lives about the CEO and his colleagues How mostly men are in higher up positions with some women she’s seen are secretaries, tour guides, cafeteria staff (she did manage to get introduced to the COO a 5’10 black woman, with a head of wonderful 4a curls and 4 degrees and she recommended the woman to get in contact with her mother so they could talk more)

\- How women and men aren’t getting enough maternity and paternity leave

There might be more and she asked the COO as well as their tour guide to email her if they see anything suspicious.

As MJ was walking into their arachnids and insects exhibits, she noticed something. It wasn’t the fascination on Peter’s cute face nor was it the excited squeals that squeaked out of Ned every so often. No, it was that one of the glass cases that supposedly housed one of their experimental spiders was balanced precariously with one of the corners exposed to the ground and not resting on the podium. The felt a small weight on her leg, looked down and saw a blue spider with red and yellow markings. She it’s fangs sink deep into her leg, feeling extremely lightheaded, followed by an intense burning feeling, the ground coming closer and two voices yelling and then...black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she came to Peter and Ned were standing over her concern written all over their faces. They helped her stand up and immediately she felt the need to vomit. Pushing away from them ignoring the sway in her steps she rushed to the bathroom. As soon as she entered the dry heaved before vomiting half her breakfast. She felt awful! She was hot and cold at the same time, like her insides were burning but healing simultaneously.

When she cleaned her mouth and rinsed it a bit, she walked out of the bathroom with shaky steps. Peter and Ned were immediately at her side, guiding her to a nearby bench. “MJ! What happened back there? You’re burning up! Forget this field trip, we’re taking you home. Ned call Ms Jones tell her MJ’s sick.”

Peter was sick with worry, he’d only been friends with MJ for two weeks but she’s already a great friend, and to see her standing upright and fine, but then the next minute she’s on the floor panting and slightly sweating. Both he and Ned were used to the slightly talkative, always debating, and not afraid to speak her mind Michelle Jones, not the teen in front of them who was so out of it that she was leaning on Ned, not saying a word, completely vulnerable in their care.

“O-oh are you sure ma’am? What about River? Oh, she’s in the middle class and after that what about--. I understand we got her. Ok Ms Jones, sorry Ms Ida. Ok bye.”

Ned hung up, his shoulders shaking slightly, we hunched forward forgetting Michelle was out of commission, she leaned forward, dropping dramatically almost face planting if it weren’t for Ned and Peter each catching an arm and propping her against the wall they were leaning against.

“So, Ned what did Ms Jones say? Oh wait we’re gonna have to take care of her, aren't we?”

By the face he could see that it wasn't a good response. Ned quickly explained that with River at school and having to do both of her part time jobs today, and Ms Jones not being able to get off work until after 5 they would have to take care of MJ themselves. Ms Jones told Ned both during their call and via text that she trusts them, gave them a list of things to do in order to take proper care of MJ, not before repeatedly telling them that if they did anything inappropriate she’d tell their guardians, the principle and possibly Pepper Potts herself to prevent them from getting into any dream colleges and jobs.

After explaining to their tour guide, Ms Warren and Mr Cobbwell that MJ wasn’t feeling well and that they got direct orders from her mom to bring her home.

Ms Jones texted them to let them know that Mr Happy Hogan was going to drive them back to Michelle’s house to take care of her. Ned was mother henning everywhere; cleaning up her room, making sure they didn’t mess with any of her stuff, charged her phone, and iPad, and taking care of MJ the same way a mother takes care of a baby with their first fever. For the next few hours he woke her up periodically making sure her 101.5 fever broke, that she ate something, and drank some water and ginger ale. Meanwhile Peter felt that something was amiss. How did MJ get sick so suddenly? What caused her to become so out of it so quickly? While Ned was taking care of MJ, Peter was researching nearly every sickness known to mankind, that had similar symptoms that MJ had, but also if anything was in the spider that bit her; because no spider cool or no is supposed to spark that kind of reaction.


	3. Call Me Scarlet Spider Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michelle’s POV of what happened at her house, and then some things.

As Peter Parker, and Ned Leeds rode in the back of Harold “Happy” Hogan’s Black Audi, in near silence. I was sprawled across Ned’s lap, eyes hooded and trying to remain quiet- failing and letting out the occasional whine and whimper.   
  


Ned the naturally nurturing friend was worried, and in an attempt to calm both me and himself he undid the elastic keeping my hair in a high ponytail, and started to run his fingers through the curls hoping that it was helping.   
  


It did help and I was able to focus on Ned’s soft hands running through my scalp, and the bouncing of Peter’s leg, his fingers gliding across his phone, the keyboard clacking producing a soothing sound. It was grounding and although the drive was only about 45 minutes, it was luring me to sleep.

As they got closer to my house, the dull ache I had turned into a roaring, pounding headache. A burning sensation erupted in my bones and blood, while I’m not one prone to crying or-- emotions in general— but with the sudden pain that erupted I felt hot tears pooling in my eyes and immediately curled into the fetal position, although it hurt I couldn’t think of anything else that might lessen the pain. The good thing was that we’d pulled into the driveway of my house.

“Hey MJ? I know you’re in an extreme amount of pain right now, but um a couple things.” Happy was helping me up the stairs, and into my room, I’m pretty sure my mom threatened them three times over considering the amount of caution they were acting on. While I’m the most aware person I know, everything was blurring and clashing together and I really just wanted to go take a nap.

“H-huh? Yeah, yeah what ‘s it? Although ‘m tired and sleepy. G’d night.” 

“No nononononono. Don’t go to sleep just yet. Just tell us what you’re mom would do when you get sick.” I was about to fall on whatever I was laying on but, Ned started to gently shake me awake.

“Hmmm… o-oh yeah right. She keeps these types of things in a binder in my bathroom. In one of the cabinets. C-can I go to sleep now?”

“Yeah you can go to sleep MJ, I’ll wake you up in an hour. Gotta make sure that fever goes down.”

“G’d night, Petey, g’d night Ned sleep tight.”

———————-

For the next couple of hours, Ned kept waking me up, making sure my fever went down to normal levels, and making me eat something (crackers, jello, applesauce, some light foods), and drink something like water or ginger ale. 

Peter on the other hand kept typing something on his phone. Probably keeping up with his Aunt May Parker so that she wouldn’t worry. 

It was about 3:52 in the afternoon when I felt lucid enough to help Leeds and Parker with whatever research they were doing. But as soon as I put my hand on the wall behind me, I couldn't get it off. Slight panic ran through me as I tried to get my hand off but it was like it was stuck— superglued to the wall. 

“MJ, what are you doing?!” Peter looked up from what he was doing to see both of Michelle’s hand pressed against the wall, cracks forming against the pressure of my hand on it. 

“I don’t know if it's its superglued to the wall.” I kept trying to yanked her hand off, which of course only made it worse, with breaks forming in the wall. 

“Wait, wait give me a minute. Okay okay, you got this Michelle just relax and slowly peel it away from the— ok that works” I took a deep steady breath, and slowly pulled away from the wall. And ended up jumping (on the ceiling) when I heard a shriek, piercing sound cut through the air.

“MJ, that was just my text tone, it wasn’t even at the highest volume.”

Peter checked the settings on his phone, and sure enough the volume was next to mute. Peter decided to test something and motioned for Ned to throw something at MJ who had her back turned. He chucked one of her thicker books and surprisingly she caught it without flinching or even looking in their direction.

"Woah. MJ how'd you catch that?" 

"Do what? Oh.. that." I looked at them and saw one of my books in my hand and both of them gaped at me. I don't remember catching the book, just this tingling on the back of my neck and I was holding up my hand behind me. 

Peter observed MJ, how she flinched at the slightest noise or that when Ned through a book at her she caught it without even looking back or flinching.

“It’s like you’re part spider or some kind of spider-superhuman hybrid. Awesome! My best friend’s like a superhero. Although not really considering, you know, you don’t even have a costume”

"Guys can you shut up, or speak softer please? You're talking way to loud. Jeez" It sounded like they were yelling right in my ear, even though I knew they were across the room, plus everything just felt overwhelming, like the lights were too bright, the fabric of my shirt even the bed was way to scarcthy.

"MJ were over here. It's like your senses were dialed to 11."  
  


“Great, so I’m not even human anymore. And Ned let’s not jump to conclusions. I’m not some superwoman, I’m Michelle SC Jones. Although it would be nice to do something about all the crime in Queens. Hey, do either of you know how to sew, we’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let’s hope for some semi frequent updates


	4. Base Work

A couple days after the spider incident, Peter, Ned and I were holed up in my room, brainstorming ideas for a hero suit. 

While it took awhile for me to adjust to my newly heightened senses, enhanced strength, healing factor (which I discovered after my foot was cut on the side of my dresser), I was able to go back to school, which was  _ absolute  _ hell considering how many heartbeats I heard, the fact that I could smell every person that had extensive B.O., I could hear the footsteps of a person running on the first floor while I was on the second, and even the fabric of the comfiest clothes I wore was irritating, (Ned did some research and said I had sensory overload, so I’m always carrying sunglasses and earbuds/headphones to block out some of what was happening).

“MJ, how ‘bout Spider-Woman, Web-Spinner?, Spinneret?” Ned read off his list that took him two days to come up with.Peter was finishing some homework our Chem teacher gave us, Ned and I told him to do it at lunch but he’d rather eat the government issued lunch provided.

“Too generic, too childish, and that’ll be a mouthful.” I was on my MacBook looking up the increased crime rates in Queens and how poorly the police is handling it. While both the police and J. Jonah Jameson openly express their disbelief in the rise of vigilantes and superheroes, they’re not discussing the reason for increased crime which was due to the super powered villains running amok. I think it’s obvious that the guns and other machinery they use isn’t doing anything to stop these people, the police hasn’t gotten the courage to admit it.

“Wait, I got it! How does the Dahlia sound?” Peter finished his work and was now Googling “superhero names”, how original. 

“I like it, but what about the Black Dahlia? It’s my favorite flower.” I looked up from my research to see Peter looking at with slight fear. I looked at what he was looking at; it was a Google search of the Black Dahlia, a cold case of Elizabeth Short murdered in LA in 1947. 

“What’s wrong with it? MJ that name is associated with a murder case! Trust us you  _ don’t  _ want to be associated with that.” Peter explained as he tossed me his laptop, I knew the case of Elizabeth Short, and while it is a cool name he’s right, it doesn’t exactly scream superhero.

“Ugh, okay fine. Too deadly, Ned anything else on that list?” 

“Just one; does Scarlet Spider sound cool and superhero-ish? And please say yes, I don’t have anything else on here.” Ned looked up from his phone, I made eye contact with Peter who had a small smile graced on his lips. 

“Okay, Ned that’s the one. Now let’s start designing a suit.”

For the next week, Ned was our “guy in the chair”, hacking into CCTV cameras do find a pattern in the recent increased crime rates and finding a low rate villain that I could take down. Peter's job was to repair and report, he and Ned both worked a suit for me, but Peter put in a lot of tech upgrades (with Ned’s help of course) based on Tony Stark’s AI (we found that out through Ned who more or less copied and pasted a lot of the code used). He also categorized Ned’s crime finding based on incident, power (of villain and how much damage happened) and place and time when it occurred. My job is to go after the villains which I’ll debut after Peter finishes the suit, and researching more local and Avenger type incidents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter hopefully up next week


	5. Character Info and Aesthetics

Wright Evans Jones: "When Baking Follow Directions, When Cooking Go By Your Own Taste" 12 twelve years old, attends Midtown Middle School of Science and Technology and wants to become a software developer. He likes robotics, programming and baking.

River Marian Jones: "Mindset Is What Separates The Best From The Worst"

18 years old and attends NYU majoring in Political Science and Government, she prefers to live off campus to avoid additional cost of tuition, and likes to stay near in case anything happens to her family.

Ida Bell-Jones: "She's got that whole 'Purpose-Driven, Change Making, Warrior Princess, Super Mom' thing going on"

R&D manager for Stark Industries under Pepper Potts has been divorced from her husband for almost 4 years. She makes $142,120 every year, has 3 degrees from 2 HBCUs and encourages her children to have a good and rewarding education so they'll be prepared for life after college.

Michelle SC Jones: "Bye, Have To Study So I Can Be Better Than Everyone I Hate"

Speaks Italian, French, knows Mandarin and dabbles in Portugeuse 

Has 5 different types of notebooks: Observations, Doodles and Drawings, Customized Planner, Bullet Journal and 10 subject notebook (for school but it's mainly used at Stark Industries)

Favorite books: human bondage, the adolescent, the wings of the dove

Likes protesting, the black dahlia flower, sarcasm, journalism

Dislikes: ignorance


	6. It's a Balancing Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MJ gets her first top secret assignment...with Natasha Romanoff

My Saturday started like it usually does; with River crashing into my room, yelling for me to get ready even though I’m already dressed, wearing an offwhite shirt with black netting on top. a black bomber jacket and black jeans. I decided to switch up my usual hairstyles and instead of having it in a messy ponytail, I put my hair up in two space buns.

My attention divided between my observations notebook and bullet journal, the movie Hidden Figures playing acting as background music. 

“I’m already up River.I don’t understand why we do this every week.”

“I do it every week because no matter how late your up the previous day or how early your up the next, you and always manage to leave a little late.”

“Did it occur to you that maybe it’s mom that’s making us late, not me?”

“We’ll put that theory to the test. Let’s see if you manage to leave on time or even better,  _ early.  _ What are we waging? $50, or $100?” I think about the chances of leaving in the next 48 minutes and nod my head. No way is it my fault we leave late. Besides while Ms Potts doesn’t tolerate lateness, she’s college friends with mom so she lets it slide. 

“$150. I’m feeling bold today.” We shake hands and River makes an off pitted comment about how she’s amazed I even make it to school on time.

I put my observations notebook in my messenger bag (which is dark grey and says “ask me about my feminist agenda” in black writing) along with a new book I bought (Everything’s Trash but Okay, by Phoebe Robinson) MacBook and StarkPad making sure I have all of my chargers (computer, StarkPad and phone) and head downstairs into the kitchen. My brother Wright is down in the kitchen; preparing a lunch for both my mom and me, (fruit salad, egg fried cauliflower rice, and a veggie wrap). 

“Hey little bro. Thanks for the lunch, you even made us wraps? Must be a special day, finally make that breakthrough in the formula you’ve been working on for the last week?” 

“Yes actually. I finally found the perfect balance between the egg yolks, egg whites and the oven temperature for the molten chocolate soufflé . You wouldn’t  _ believe _ how many egg cartons I went through. But I finally  _ cracked _ the recipe so be prepared for dessert, and remind mom to text me what she wants for dinner. It’s between Caprese Zoodles, Taco Tomatoes, and Skinny Alfredo.” At that moment mom walked in wearing, a white knee length dress, with gold and black stripes. 

“It’ll be Skinny Alfredo and taco tomatoes. We can have Caprese Zoodles tomorrow. When MJ and I leave Stark Industries I’ll pick up the bi weekly groceries and what we need for tonight’s dinner.” I look at my phone and see the time. 32 minutes until we need to leave. I pack my lunch, make sure mom has hers, and after triple checking we have everything we need, head downstairs to the main level of our apartment. Once downstairs we head into mom’s car and start the 30 minute commute to SI

* * *

“So Michelle. We haven’t been able to chat ya know? One on one. Tell me, exactly what happened the day you went on the field trip to Oscorp.” She looks at me out of the corner of her eye. The “you better tell the truth or else” look, written across her face.

“All in all, it was kind of a long and rough day. I forgot to eat breakfast that day, since I was in a rush. Then I got a notification from my phone reminding me about my upcoming cycle and I was already feeling the cramps. And as you know I had my observations notebook so I was taking notes of everything that’s wrong with Oscorp, the COO asked me to give you her contact info by the way. But I think I ate something bad at lunch or on the way, maybe it was something in the air or at the exhibits. I just started feeling faint and all these other things.” Okay, so it was the closest thing to the truth that I could say without revealing exactly how it and what happened. Besides I know she interrogated Ned and Peter the day after, and checked the surveillance system in the house.

* * *

‘Made it 15 minutes early, I accept cash, checks, CashApp and Zelle.’ As Mom and I entered the elevator on our way to meet Pepper Potts on the R&D floor, I sent River a text letting her know she didn’t just lose the bet, I dominated it. 

“Good morning, Ida, MJ. I was thinking we should try something new. How about--” She was interrupted when the elevator opened to reveal, Ms Natasha Romanoff (aka the Black Widow), a member of the OG Avengers and master spy and expert on interrogation (amongst other things), which means if someone will suspect Scarlet Spider’s identity when she debuts-- trust me it’ll be her.

“Good morning Pepper, Ms Jones. Hey, Pepper, this your personal intern? I know you already my name but, let’s know yours.” She stepped onto the elevator standing next to Pepper giving her a small hug, mom a stern nod, and held her hand out for me to shake. 

“Michelle Jones, Ms Romanoff, pleased to meet you.” I shook her hand, giving a small courteous smile, before taking out my observations notebook, and taking small notes about Ms Romanoff. The basics, height, hair and eye color, any ticks, posture, status at SI etc. I looked to see Ms Romanoff looking directly at me, eyes scrunched and calculating, then her vision switched from my appearance to my messenger bag and observations notebook. She gave me a small smile, nodding her head slightly and turned to the phone in her hand. Pepper watched the quick exchange and smiled when Ms Romanoff returned to her own thing. 

“So as I was saying, you know MJ has excelled in just about every task I’ve given and quizzed her on, I think we should see how she does in real-world situations. Even though I’ve already made up my mind about it, before I tell Tony, and release a statement to the press, I want to make sure that MJ's ready to take over when she finishes college.” Mom and Pepper have been friends and roommates since graduate school, they still kept in contact, and when Pepper took over Stark Industries they both wanted either River or myself to take over when Pepper retires. When River decided she was going to be a US senator, and I was taking in interest in journalism and corporate operations, they both decided that I was going to study after Pepper and become the new CEO, which led to the formation of the SI internship program. 

“Okay, but um Pepper, what kind of real-world situation, were you thinking about?”

“Ida you know I trust you, and will tell you anything and everything under the sun, but I think this test, needs to be kept under wraps until further development, or later next week. Whichever comes first. Please understand this, the only person besides myself and MJ that will know about this will be Natasha and you know how trustworthy she is right?”

“Okay, I understand but the moment I walk into SI, Wednesday I expect an immediate conference, and you will answer any and all the questions I have.” With that we arrived at the R&D floor and mom stepped out, not before giving Pepper a nod and giving me a hug, promising we’ll eat lunch together at 1:00 sharp in her office. 

“Um okay, Pepper what’s this top-secret assignment you’re giving me?” I closed my notebook, placing it in my bag and taking out my StarkPad, ready to take notes about the assignment, and anything I see wrong during the day.

“It’s nothing too big, all you’re doing is assisting Natasha with an investigation. I know how you excel in journalism, and don’t think I haven’t noticed how many notebooks you have, especially your observations notebook.”

“Michelle, there’s someone in Stark Industries whose been trying and sadly succeeding in leaking SI files, emails, work environment allegations, and conversations between the top dogs, to local and state TV stations, and social media platforms. I’ve been able to intercept a majority of the leaked files, but we’re going to need to tackle this head on, and get the person in charge of this. So what do you say? You ready to help me track a mole?”


	7. Woman in a Man's World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mj and Natasha start their investigation.
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to @lw531. Thank you for the comments!!

Things have gotten very hectic in all aspects of my life. Allow me to explain.

1) In my home life, we’re nearing the 5 year anniversary of the following events; my parents falling out of love, them trying (and failing) to rekindle it, my dad having an affair, a big family fight, (the emotional trauma), and finally the divorce. River has been taking up a couple more hours at her job, so she’ll stay busy and out of the house for a couple more hours than she usually does. Wright has been holed up in his room more working on some programs or if I’m up late and go into the kitchen and find him stress baking (which has led to the apartment smelling like a bakery 24/7, on the bright side there’s a ton of snacks to eat for school and when I get home). Mom, I think has been taking the hardest seeing she was married to my father for 20 years before they divorced, so even after going to marriage counseling, she was having a hard time transitioning from depending on a partner to carrying hardships by herself, the counselor, and her kids suggested she remarry or at least start dating but she decided to take it as a sign that she should focus more on herself and her kids rather than trying another marriage. _ (But wait MJ, you haven’t talked about how you’re doing—), _we don’t talk about that.

2) Getting some credibility as Scarlet Spider, a week after Pepper gave me that assignment with Ms Romanoff, Ned and Peter finished my suit and we’ve been narrowing down which villain that I’m going after. Meanwhile for the last couple of weeks, to gain some street cred as Scarlet Spider, Peter suggested that I help citizens with the small stuff; returning a stolen bike, helping out the street vendors (one lady gave me a churro which I gave to Peter and Ned), guiding the elderly (on occasion disabled or little kids) across the street or making sure they got home safely. Occasionally I’d give tourists directions or make sure civilians were out of the way when a bug battle between the Avengers broke out.

3) This stressful investigation with Ms Romanoff. We’ve narrowed down the options of who might be behind the leaked files, we considered it might be a woman but with the help of FRIDAY, she concluded that it was a male employee using a computer in either the R&D department, Human Resource or Accounting and Finance. Since then we interrogated the managers and directors of each department (which are women) to see if they might’ve seen any employees that stayed after hours, had a questionable search history or are just plain suspicious. 

* * *

“So Michelle, what do you think we should now?” Natasha and I were in my office (which was adjacent to Pepper’s), looking at the holotable which was filled with digital images of possible moles, several cups of coffee for Natasha and a pack of empty cans of Just Chill energy drinks for me. Currently its Winter Recess so I have a week off of school, which I’m using to spend some extra time with my family, and work closer with Pepper and Natasha. Since working nonstop (within New York’s child labor laws), we’ve been able to narrow down possible moles from 500 employees, to only 5, Russell Sawyer, Long Ch’ien, Keanu Acaau, Silas Jacobs and Akil Nolan. 

  * Russell Sawyer: 5’7, Welsh-American, works at Stark Industries’ Human Resource department under HR manager Dolly Kihn. 
  * Long Ch’ien: 5’11, Chinese-American, works as one of the managers in the Accounting department under director Nicole Smith.
  * Keanu Acaau: 6’0, Bi-racial (Haitian and Filipino), works in the R&D department as a market researcher under my mom.
  * Siles Jacobs: 5’5, Caucasian (of Italian and Belgium descent), friends with Long Ch’ien but works in HR
  * Akil Nolan: 5’8, Bi-racial (Egyptian-Canadian), friends with Russell Sawyer but also hangs with Dolly Kihnn and Nicole Smith during lunch break and after hours. 

While none of these employees have done anything dangerous or alarming, Mrs Kihn, Ms Smith and my mom said that they’ve been increasingly suspicious lately, taking more overtime but when FRIDAY tried to look into computer records and CCTV around the building, there were some lapses of time where things just didn’t add up. 

“I think we should interrogate them separately, I’ll go first see what they’re willing to divulge, then you can go and interrogate them. But I think for now you can observe them in a public setting, see if any social cues hint at red flags.” Natasha studied the files a little more, looked at me then took a sip of her coffee, nodding her head.

“Sounds like a plan, let’s start with Mr Siles Jacobs.” 

* * *

“So, Mr Jacobs, I just have a few questions to ask, if that’s okay with you.” I sat in my office, in a white chair, back straight, hands folded, polite smile and eyebrow raised. Mr Jacobs on the other hand, was slouched in the chair, one AirPod in his ear, obviously half listening to me, and trying to hide the fact that he was on his phone. 

“Of course sugar, ask away.” He straightened his posture slightly, and tried to smooth his slightly crumpled shirt. 

“First of all, I want you to know my mother is R&D manager and I’m the personal protégé to Pepper Potts, so keep that in mind when I ask you these questions and be sure to answer truthfully.” Mr Jacobs’ eyes widened slightly at the mention of my mother and Pepper but he rushed to compose himself. 

“First question, I’ve noticed that you’ve been taking on more overtime hours, may I ask why? And I know that you don’t have a significant other nor do you have children.”

“Well, doll, I’ve been saving up for a new phone and I’m planning on going on a trip to London with some friends in the spring, but I’m sure to ask your mother if you could accompany us.” He winked and sent an overdramatic (and slightly creepy) smile, but I kept my lips in a thin line, nodded and started jotting notes. That’s how that conversation went for the next 20 minutes; me asking questions, and him answering throwing out either a disgusting pick up line, or disturbing nickname. 

The next three interrogations went similarly with Mr Sawyer, Mr Acaau, and Mr Ch’ien. While they weren’t as forward they all gave signs that hinted at some disturbing relationship types. It wasn’t until we interviewed Mr Nolan that red flags started flashing. Let me explain. 

The first thing I noticed that was wrong was that Mr Nolan as he walked into my office, he recoiled at the sight of me. He sat down in the chair across from me, not before scooting his chair back a bit. 

“So, Mr Nolan, I just have a few questions to ask, if that’s okay with you.” He looked me up and down, but slowly nodded his head. 

“First of all, I want you to know my mother is R&D manager and I’m the personal protégé to Pepper Potts, so keep that in mind when I ask you these questions and be sure to answer truthfully.” 

“Oh, if you’re the daughter of Ida, why is your skin so light? Are you mixed or something, if so you are very polite young woman. Secondly, no offense, but when I heard Pepper was having a protégé, I thought it was going a strong capable young man, not a good black girl like yourself.” He looked cautious but, I know he was confident in saying this. 

“Pardon? I didn’t catch that, and I forgot to mention these conversations are being recorded, so please feel free to throw these comments around again.”

“I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up about, sweetheart, I’m complimenting you and your mother about adding a little more diversity to the workplace, although I’m positive there are more capable men out there to fill these jobs.” He got out of the chair, and walked over to my chair, and sat on my desk, his hand on my shoulder, looking at both my face and my cleavage. 

“Mr. Nolan once again this conversation is being recorded so if we could get back on topic that’d be great.” He didn’t heed my warning, and instead walked into my personal space, and started to remove my jacket. 

At that point I had enough so I stood up, where he could see that I was dwarphing his height, him at 5’8, me at 5’10, 6’0 with the 2 inch heeled ankle boots I’m wearing. I gently pushed him off of me, fixed my jacket, and escorted him out of my office. Me bluntly spewing out everything he’s done wrong in the past seven minutes, him trying to protest and guide me back to my office. At this point, both Pepper and Natasha were at my side, but my mom showed up first. 

She at 5’11 with her flats on, walked quickly to him and stepping in between us. 

“Care to explain what is going on?”

“Well, Ida, your daughter was trying to get in my face, but I had to remind her ‘she’s walking more like a male than a female.’ She shouldn’t keep trying to play pretend, especially if she’s trying to pass as black, not with that amazing light skin on her--.” Mom put a hand up to stop him from talking. 

“Mr Nolan? I’m going to be as professional as I can right now. You have _ no _ right to tell my beautiful _ black _ daughter what race she is. Black people, matter of fact, black women come in all different shades of brown, it is not your place to define that. Be happy I'm not even addressing the fact that you called me by my first name, when we are nothing other than employee and employer. Secondly, you are a man living in a woman’s world. This company’s CEO is a woman, this company’s department directors are women, and matter of fact, I _ am _ your boss, have half a mind to fire you right now. So either give me and my daughter sincere, heartfelt apologies in person and on both of our desks, or you walk your butt into the elevator and out of this company. I expect those apologies and a gift to each of us by the end of the week.” With that she turned on her heel and walked away, not before making sure I was okay, and giving Pepper and Natasha a stern talking to, so they’ll be rethinking the company’s policies and protocols. 

“If that was any indication, I think we may have found our mole.”

MJ’s Office: 

<https://candybot14.tumblr.com/aestheticsandothers>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be the last chapter for 2019, hope everyone has a Happy New Year!!


	8. New Year, Same Problems (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MJ tries to balance the rise in activities for Junior Year: AcaDec Semi National Competition, SATs, Midterms and getting ready for college applications. Peter and Ned help her get through her first panic attack.

“ Mme Jones! C'est la quatrième fois ce mois-ci que vous vous endormez dans ma classe. Voulez-vous vous expliquer? ”  _ Ms. Jones! This is the fourth time this month that you’ve fallen asleep in my class. Care to explain yourself?  _ Mrs. Ange slammed her head on MJ’s desk, effectively waking her from her brief nap in AP French. While the teacher was usually calm and level headed, especially towards MJ, since she is practically fluent, MJ falling asleep one too many times has become irritating. 

Mrs. Ange  ** _(search Ruth Negga)_ ** , is a 5’3 Ethiopian-Irish, light-skinned woman and MJ’s favorite teacher. While Michelle has black female teachers, Mrs. Ange has a special connection with her, both being biracial and of a lighter skin tone. Michelle knows she can come to Pepper or her mom, but Mrs. Ange has an understanding and chill nature when it comes to letting Michelle talked about her day or problems she faced because of living in a household without her father.

“ Mme ange, puis-je vous en parler après les cours? ”  _ Mrs. Ange, can I talk to you after class?  _ Mrs. Ange’s eyes softened in understanding taking in MJ’s appearance; a white cropped hoodie, black capri pants, and combat boots, what Mrs. Ange noticed that alerted her MJ was facing something troubling was the makeup on her face. Most days Michelle doesn’t wear makeup and on the days she does, it’s minimal; eyebrows, lashes and lip gloss. Today Michelle was wearing a full (but natural) face of makeup, although if you look closely you can see the bags under her eyes, that Michelle failed to conceal. 

The teacher nodded her head and wrote a pass that MJ will take to her next class if their conversation goes more than five minutes. When the class ended, the class sans MJ walked out of the class, while MJ walked towards her teacher’s desk. 

“Okay, MJ what’s going on? Seriously, you’ve been acting off these past few weeks, I was expecting you to ask for the next month’s homework weeks ago before I even knew what it was yet, and you just turned in the homework today.” MJ took a deep breath and sat down, pulling a chair next to her teacher’s desk. 

“I’ve been very stressed lately. I’m balancing AcaDec, studying for the SATs, not to mention my internship with Ms. Potts is getting hectic and the eight AP classes I’m taking.” Michelle said, not noting the rising of her heartbeat or her sweaty palms.

All of a sudden she was attacked by her heightened, enhanced and sensitive senses. The fluorescent lights in the classroom were blinding her, every time she blinked it felt like it was getting brighter and brighter. She could barely hear her heartbeat over Mrs. Ange’s and the 50 students in that wing of the school. The soft hoodie she was wearing was suddenly irritating like she had extremely sensitive skin and she could feel the makeup she put on seeping into her pores. She could smell and practically taste the Coney Island-style hot dog Mr. Smith was eating in C205, just barely over the Bath and Body Works Perfume Mrs. Ange was wearing. Everything sounded foggy but clear at the same time, Mrs. Ange was calling someone over her phone, and while MJ heard the loud steps she took to talk outside the classroom door, it felt like she was yelling in her ear right next to her. She tried to take a deep breath but it felt like her chest and windpipe were closing in on her and she started hyperventilating. She knew she was sweating but she felt chills up and down her arms, like pin needles sticking her reportedly. She also knew she was crying and she felt like she needed to go to the bathroom with the way her stomach was churning.

Next thing she knew, she heard three different sets of footsteps and someone putting their hand on the small of her back, rubbing small calming circles. 

“MJ, Michelle, focus on my voice. Do you hear it? Block out everything else but my voice.” She was still crying slightly but managed to focus on the person’s voice and her senses calmed down from a focus point of input. 

“Next thing, deep breaths--”

“I-I  _ can’t.  _ Everything is coming to fast. I feel like my ch-chest is closing up, I-”

“Michelle. Focus on my heartbeat, hear how calm it feels right? We’re gonna try to get yours calm like that too, okay? Deep breaths, inhale hold for a second then exhale, I’ll do it with you. On the count of three okay? One, two, three.” MJ followed what the person was doing, keeping her eyes closed tight and breathed in to calm her racing heart. They did that for about two minutes. 

“Now, we’re gonna do a little mental exercise.  _ Slowly _ open your eyes and tell me five different things you see.” Michelle did as told, and the lights didn’t feel that bright. 

“I see, my black pants, my backpack, brown hair, and oh, hi Pete, hey Ned.” Peter and Ned smiled at their friend in the last stretch of an intense panic attack, as soon as they got called to come to MJ’s classroom they knew something was wrong, they didn’t expect to find her in a ball in a corner of the classroom, bawling her eyes out with Mrs. Ange rubbing small circles on her back and talking to her in a hushed tone. They repeated the exercise, asking MJ to list four things she hears, three things she can touch, two distinct smells and one thing she can taste.

“Okay MJ are you feeling better?” Ned was standing in front of her with two bags one with s’ mores trail mix and the other pb&j trail mix, as well as a thermos filled with fresh green tea. 

“Here, eat the mix, I have s’ mores and pb&j. When you’re done here’s some green tea, to get your energy back up.” Michelle smiled. While it can sometimes be annoying how much of a mother hen Ned can be, right now she was feeling vulnerable and relished in the comfort he was providing. She took the food, and as soon as she finished the mix and sipped down about a quarter of her tea, she was engulfed in a hug by Peter and Ned. 

* * *

After both Peter, Ned and Mrs. Ange were certain that MJ was feeling better, Mrs. Ange called MJ’s mom to have her get picked up. Even though it was only the second block, the teacher knew how tiring a panic attack can be and she was convinced that Ida didn’t know the stress MJ was facing and would give the girl today and tomorrow off to rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m almost done with midterms so the other part of this will be done by late January early February. If you have experienced panic attacks before or you’re feeling really stressed out, talk to your friends, parent or guardian maybe even another adult you trust.


	9. New Year Same Problems (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After MJ recovers from her panic attack, her mom decides to use it as a chance for them to bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isn't a length I want but I'm publishing it then adding the rest in when I finish it

After my panic attack in Mme Ange’s (thankfully =empty) classroom, I was sent home for the day to rest. My mom picked me up and used it as a way to spend the rest of the day as a Mother-Daughter bonding experience. 

Ida POV (Michelle’s mom):

“So Michelle, since this is our bonding day, how about we both get out of the house for once. I heard from my co-worker Janine, there’s this restaurant on 5th Avenue called Hu Kitchen, they have organic foods that are gluten, GMO, and dairy-free. She said they have good juices, bowls, soups, and others. Wanna check it out?” I asked glancing away from the street ahead of me and looking at my daughter reading the latest book by Toni Morrison titled  _ The Bluest Eye _ . MJ looked up from her book and nodded, going to her probably to look over their menu.

While I haven’t been the most expressive relationship with my daughter, I always wanted her to know I’m open to talking with her. But, Michelle was closer to her father, so when we divorced I knew it took a toll on her much harder than it did me. She always had a connection with him, even though he had dark skin, he was biracial and was able to prepare MJ for what she might experience because she was two different races. He also helped me make sure all three of our kids were comfortable and confident in their skin, mainly River and MJ since River used to compare her weight to others, luckily we were able to expose her to successful plus-sized family members, and influencers. Michelle, on the other hand, had trouble coping with her racial identity, often because of being asked “what are you?” or “you’re not black, you light skin” when she was in elementary school. Although I know she is comfortable in her skin, it’s usually late at night, when I’m finishing some work, that I would hear her crying in her room, or watching videos about the Biracial community and its ups and downs. It breaks my heart that I can’t find a way to connect with MJ but, this a perfect opportunity for us both to open up and get a closer relationship with each other.

* * *

I parked the car and MJ started the 2-minute walk to Hu Kitchen. When we got there I ordered an Organic Buffalo Chicken Ranch Flatbread, and Michelle ordered a Paleo Lasagna. When we got what we ordered we sat down at a table near a window. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, I decided to start the conversation. 

“Michelle, how’re things going with Pepper and Natasha? Did you figure out who the mole was?” 

“Things are going well. Pepper is thinking of letting me handle the next press conference coming up next week. The one announcing the latest StarkPhone and StarkPad, as well as addressing the leaked information by Mr. Nolan. There is another thing that I overheard Pepper and Natasha talking about. They’re thinking of, at the next conference, announcing me as the company’s next CEO. When I heard that I decided to talk to them about it and they felt with all these things happening, especially with the mole, that it'd be better for one of them or myself to announce it, rather than it being leaked onto some sketchy Twitter account.” I felt my eyes widen. I know Pepper, I know that she already planned to have MJ succeed her in a few years. But, I thought that announce wouldn’t be made until Michelle was in college or graduated from one.

"That's, well unexpected. But if this is something Pepper and Natasha are confident in sharing, and if you're sure you're ready for that much attention on you right now, I won't confront Pepper about it. _But the next time Pepper wants to hold a press conference let me know what it's about_." 

Michelle nodded and we continued our Mother-Daughter day, visiting a nearby shopping district, go to a University Library, and another bookstore. Later on, we took a yoga class and picked up some dinner from another vegetarian restaurant. It was a fun, stress-free day, and I'll make sure to spend these types of days with River and Wright as well, maybe even a family outing in the future. I know Michelle enjoyed our day out too, and while she was sleeping on the way back to our apartment, I text her friends Peter and Ned to let them know that they should have more free days with Michelle, but if they tried anything before MJ could handle them, I'm disciplining them and suspending their Instagram and Twitter accounts. 

* * *

MJ POV: 

I'm glad that my mom took some time off so that we can spend some time together. Sadly, I should know that nothing good ever lasts. Especially when Natasha Romanoff works so close to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....it was originally gonna be Peter and Ned spending time with MJ but I wanted Ida to be more than a side character  
also, writer's block sucker-punched me with this fic.


	10. Where I Been

I have not abandoned or forgotten about this work.

I'm transitioning to starting college classes in a few weeks, and my senior year of high school next month. 

Even though I thought quarantine would mean more updates and inspiration, I'm low-key trained and have temporarily lost the idea of where I'm taking this fanfiction. 

This will be updated by the end of the year, I just don't know when.

( _ _ ;)

If you guys have any constructive criticisms about the past few chapters, or ideas for the next ones don't be afraid to drop a comment or ask on my Tumblr [https://yoru-ayame.tumblr.com/](https://candybot14.tumblr.com/)


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